RACING AGAINST YOUR PERSONAL LIMITS… THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE

Sport practice in the XXI century has spread to almost the entire population. Nowadays, a large number of athletes (amateurs and professionals) are subjected to high doses of training. Primary professional assessment and monitoring are considered useful tools in order to prevent possible short and long – term imbalances.

Performance

Professional Surveillance

Endurance

Once a drug is administered simultaneously with another substance (food, medicinal plant, diet product or other drug) we need to consider different risks: one can modify the activity of the other, enhance or reduce the expected effect or increase toxicity.

Such interactions can be pharmacokinetic (influencing the absorption, distribution, metabolism or excretion) and pharmacodynamics (influencing the desired effect).

The significance of iron in the athlete’s diet is present in numerous scientific studies. Many of these studies conclude with the importance of maintaining adequate levels of iron while intense exercise situations. Did you knowthat iron salts combined with some antibiotics might decrease the antibiotic absorption leading to an effectiveness loss? One outstanding example of this interaction is with ciprofloxacin, the antibiotic of choice for urinary tract infections, commonly known as cystitis.

A drug is a substance or preparation having therapeutic or prophylactic properties. Currently, drugs are much more complex and active. Multidisciplinary collaboration is essential to provide a global and comprehensive health care. Collaboration in pharmacotherapeutics and public health surveillance are some of pharmacist´s roles.

Did you know … a daily dose of more than 4 grams of acetaminophen might cause a problem that could conduct a negative reaction? The same pathway as cytochrome P450 metabolizes acetaminophen. Furthermore, if we consume grapefruit juice, the interaction can be intensified as this metabolic path also metabolizes grapefruit juice. Four grams of acetaminophen are achieved with 4 doses per day sold in 1 gram, 6 doses of 650mg or 8 doses of 500mg.

The use of drugs always involves a risk, but the greatest risk is to use them without knowledge of its possible risks. It is well known that humans accept higher levels of risk when there is a voluntary choice. Sharing information and involving citizens in the process of evaluation and decision-making get precisely this: transforming an involuntary risk, very badly accepted, into an assumed one.

Pharmaceutical care is characterized by a broad view of everything that a patient consumes.